This was written for Frobin Fortnight on tumblr to fit the prompt 'routine'. Basically Nakamaship fluff, with the crew operating as something of a family. Hope you enjoy!
All in a Morning
Robin loved her coffee.
No day would be complete without a few cups of it, the first being in the early morning, just before the dawn. It was always a quiet time, and not that she didn't love the boisterousness of life on the Thousand Sunny as a whole, there was something special about beginning her morning ritual just before the rising of the sun, when all around was silent.
When the time was nigh Robin stood stretching from her seat in the library and made her way down to the galley, where the coffee grinder was waiting. Sanji had left about half an hour earlier to attend the night markets and pick up some extra fresh ingredients for breakfast, so she wouldn't have her usual company this morning. Not that it mattered too much, Robin was perfectly capable of making her own coffee, just as she did every other morning she rose earlier than the cook.
Unlike every other morning however, it seemed as though in the cook's absence a rather unique predicament had developed.
Robin didn't notice at first. The sun was barely an orange glow on the horizon when she entered the galley. She was half way over to the cupboard to fetch a fresh mug when she heard the sounds of hushed, panicked voices from somewhere nearby. She quickly located the light switch.
It was amazing that, having known them for over two years now, they still had the ability to straight out surprise her. Years ago, when she'd been wondering about the true Nakama Saul had promised, she never would have imagined the image in front of her right now.
Luffy and Usopp were before her in something of a bizarre arrangement. Luffy was, very literally, tied around the fridge. How he had managed it, Robin could only begin to wonder. More ridiculous still, Usopp had fallen victim to the knot and was somehow embedded within it, not unlike a finger when caught in a pair of shoelaces.
Robin held in her laughter. "That's quite a creative position, boys," she commented with a smile.
"This isn't funny, Robin!" Usopp managed, "We're stuck!"
That only made it funnier. "I see," Robin nodded in a serious tone, "Have you done anything about getting yourselves unstuck?"
"If we could have, we would have done it already!" Usopp snapped.
"I'm afraid you'll suffocate if you stay like that."
"Don't say that sort of thing!"
At that moment, Zoro stepped into the galley and observed the scene before them. "Still here?" he asked, "You can still take me up on that offer if you like."
"No way!" Luffy shot back, finally getting in time to speak amongst all his struggling.
"I offered to help them out earlier," Zoro explained, implying the two had already been like this for a while, "But they'd rather stay like that."
"That's because you were gonna slice us apart, you psycho!" Usopp retaliated.
Zoro took a seat beside the table and watched the pair. "Then try getting yourselves out. What do you think the cook will do when he gets back and finds you like this?"
Luffy and Usopp looked at one another for a moment. It seemed as though neither of them had considered this yet. "He's gonna kill us," Usopp deduced.
"All I wanted was meat…" Luffy lamented, "Do you think there is a way I can somehow still open the fridge and get some out?"
"We have other things to worry about, you idiot!" came Usopp's snappy response.
Robin let them be for a few moments as she left the galley and headed down to the ship's workshop. When it came to problems with the onboard infrastructure such as the fridge and likewise appliances—or basically anything to do with the ship for that matter—there was one man to go to.
Sure enough, she entered the workshop to find Franky snoozing by the bench. She smiled gently, blooming a hand to smooth through his messy hair to rouse him.
"Hmm? Robin? You're up already?" he asked her groggily as he yawned himself awake.
"I never went to bed," she briefly explained, "But that's not important. We might be needing your help up in the kitchen. There's been a bit of a… situation with the boys."
Franky sighed somewhat fondly. "What have they done this time?"
"You'll need to see for yourself."
Franky quickly followed her up and through to the galley.
By now, Chopper had been awoken and had come to see what the ruckus was about. He was now panicking just as much as the other two idiots, maybe even more so.
"You can just glue them back together afterwards," Zoro suggested, having just posed his idea to the doctor.
"Oh yes Zoro, good thinking! I guess you could—wait, it doesn't work like that!"
"Franky!" Luffy and Usopp called gratefully upon the cyborg's arrival, "Get us out!"
"How the super hell did you manage this?!" Franky reprimanded.
"All I wanted was to sneak some meat when Sanji wasn't around," Luffy explained, "But I couldn't work out how to get it unlocked. Usopp tried to help."
"So you tied yourself around the fridge…?" Franky completed as the two continued struggling.
"I believe in you, Aniki!" Usopp said, "I believe you can get us out of this mess."
"Hmm, well we can start by freeing you, Usopp," Franky said, "Then we'll work on Luffy…"
"Finally!"
Franky placed his hands beneath Usopp's arms so to lift him up out of the jumble. It worked somewhat—Usopp was indeed lifted up, off the ground. But Luffy, and the rest of the fridge came off with him. "He's not budging," Franky observed, setting the two idiots and the fridge back on the ground.
"Looks like we'll have to try something else…" Robin observed after another few minutes struggle.
"We're gonna end up dead!" Usopp whined in despair.
"Did someone say 'dead'?" came Brook's voice as the skeleton popped in through the door.
"You're not helping, Brook," Usopp greeted the new arrival.
"Perhaps some music will then! Yohoho!"
"This is getting entertaining," Zoro said from where he was seated against the table as Brook pulled out a guitar and began strumming some fitting mood music, "I could do with some booze though…"
"Isn't that in the fridge?" Chopper questioned.
The realisation seemed to hit Zoro on a profound level. "Oi, we need to get them off," he said, getting to his feet, "The longer those idiots stay on there, the more we're going to suffer for it."
"Idiots? What kind of idiot drinks booze at this time of day?!" Usopp raised.
"Well what kind of idiot gets tied to the fridge with another idiot?"
"Usopp, we should let Zoro be," Luffy informed calmly, "You hear what he says? He's talking like getting tied to the fridge is a difficult thing to do. He's a little bit dim."
"I suppose you're right," Usopp admitted, "A situation like this must be hard for his brain to process. But it's not like he can help it."
Zoro grit his teeth. "You know it's really demeaning hearing those words from you two."
"Robin, I have an idea," Franky said as he turned to address her beneath the madness of their surrounding Nakama, "I think only you and I can do this…"
"Oi, Nami and the cook are on their way back," Zoro observed upon glancing out the window.
This didn't help matters at all.
"He's gonna kill us!" Usopp and Luffy panicked as they squirmed about.
Their struggle seemed to amuse Zoro, although his enjoyment only lasted until he remembered the pair were what was sealing away his precious booze.
"Hold still!" Franky commanded them, having just shared his plan with Robin, "We're going to do this fast."
"What are you going to do?!" Usopp asked.
Franky ignored the question. "Are you ready, Robin?"
"It's a mystery," Luffy observed.
Robin prepared. "Whenever you are, Franky."
As Nami approached the Sunny alongside Sanji (she had decided to visit the markets shortly after Sanji had left, and they'd met up), a series of loud noises echoed from within one of the ship's cabins.
"What are they up to?" she wondered, "It's still early."
Sanji exhaled a plume of smoke from his morning cigarette. "Those idiots better not be messing around in the kitchen."
"Woo! We're free!" Luffy's distinctive voice cheered in triumph.
"The cook's gonna be in here any second, you know," came Zoro's voice, quieter.
"Act natural!" Usopp yelled.
And so, Sanji and Nami returned to find a surprisingly full and quiet kitchen.
"You're all up early," Nami observed as she placed a bag of groceries on the bench.
"Why… hello, Sanji… and Nami," Luffy greeted from where he was perched cross-legged atop the table, sipping a cup of tea.
"Yes, hello," Usopp welcomed in a likewise manner, reclining rather inconspicuously against the bench, "Did you have an interesting morning? That tie looks great on you by the way, Sanji. Very dashing. Compliments your lovely eyes."
"I don't know what you two have been up to," Sanji admitted, "But get off the table!" he swiped his leg over the surface to clear it of unwanted objects, sending Luffy flying into Usopp.
The two whispered amongst themselves, before running out the door. "Oh by the way Sanji?" Luffy said jogging on the spot just as he left, "I'm hungry."
"Breakfast will be ready soon, don't come back in here until it's done," Sanji said.
Luffy happily left alongside Usopp, chattering happily about all the meat he felt like eating.
The others filed out as well, whatever action that had entertained them seemingly over.
"Is there anything I can get for you, Robin-chwan my sweet?" Sanji cooed when it was only her and Franky remaining.
"Not today," Robin said with a smile.
It wasn't until she was back up in the library that Robin realised she was missing the very thing she had gone down to the kitchen to get in the first place.
No sooner had she approached the door to head back down again however, she found she had a visitor.
"Super good morning, Robin!" Franky greeted as though it was his first time seeing her that day, "You didn't get your coffee, did you?"
Robin shook her head. "I got distracted on the way. That's what I was going back down for now."
"No need," Franky said, presenting her with a mug of coffee he must have made himself once she'd left the galley, "We make a super good team."
She smiled and accepted the coffee and recalled the way they'd sorted the boys out. Franky had tried lifting them out again, while she had bloomed a giant set of arms to hold the fridge down in place, subsequently resulting in the boys flying free from their entrapment. A very simple procedure, really. It was amazing how much easier these things could be when two worked together. "It's all in a morning's work."